Egypt is attending the ministerial meeting of the Mercosur bloc in Brasilia to deliver a message about the importance of joining the group, Minister of Industry and Foreign Trade Tarek Kabil said in a statement.
Mercosur through its pro-tempore presidency under Venezuela is involved in a round of contacts to agree on the group's much delayed XLVI summit which has been postponed because of problems with 'presidents' agenda', revealed Paraguayan foreign minister Eladio Loizaga.
Suriname and Guyana signed on Thursday the protocols to become associate members of Mercosur which is currently holding its mid year summit in Montevideo. This means all South American countries are now part of Mercosur.
Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez said he had talked with his peer from Brazil Dilma Rousseff who confirmed the invitation to an extraordinary meeting of Mercosur next July 31 in Rio do Janeiro.
Canadian Minister of International Trade Ed Fast has concluded a two-day trade visit to Argentina, to promote the conclusion of exploratory talks towards a possible free trade agreement (FTA) with the Mercosur trade bloc.
“It is unacceptable to engage in an economic blockade of the Falklands, there can be no justification, legal, moral or political, for efforts to intimidate the people of the Falkland Islands”, said Foreign Officer Minister Jeremy Browne on Wednesday.
“Malvinas is not an Argentine cause, it’s a global cause because they are taking our fisheries and oil resources” said Argentine president Cristina Fernandez on taking the Mercosur rotating chair for the next six months.
Mercosur member countries (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay) finally agreed Tuesday to close its ports to ships flying the flag of the disputed Falkland/Malvinas Islands, announced Uruguay's president at the closing of the group’s two-day summit in Montevideo.
President Hugo Chavez claimed that a small group of Paraguayan lawmakers, manipulated by a “powerful black hand”, are impeding the long-delayed access of Venezuela as full member of Mercosur.
Paraguayan president Fernando Lugo called for the free flow and free access of his country’s goods to Mercosur senior members’ markets and insisted on the energy integration of the block.